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Soarin’ Over Shanghai Disneyland

May 11, 2013

Disney fans are often dreamers, and when Disney announced a new park in Shanghai, legions of Disneyphiles started imagining what the new park would look like. Alain Littaye of the Disney and more blog has been dreaming, too, but he has also been watching Google Earth like a hawk. Thanks to Alain’s diligence, we are rewarded this week with an up-to-date bird’s eye view of Disney’s newest park and a little video that he calls Soarin’ Over Shanghai Disneyland. ~~Rick

First Google Aerial Photos of Shanghaî Disneyland plus
“Soarin’ Over Shanghaî Disneyland” Video
by Alain Littaye Disney and more blog

In what I am calling our first Disneyland Shangai Update, I have the first Google aerial pictures of the construction site plus a “soaring’ over Shanghai Disneyland video that I did especially for you!

All the aerial pictures below are from Google Earth which recently added new satellite pictures of the construction site. We can see the entire construction site, including the Shanghaî Disneyland Lake; the land where the Shanghaî Disneyland five star hotel will be built at the bottom left of the lake; and of course the land where the park will be built soon! Note that the new satellite picture stops at the limit of the lake, so I have created a mix of old pictures and new ones, which also allows a before/after view.

Before we have a look at Google’s new photos, let’s take a look at this map which was cleverly done by Luke from Luke and the Temple of Fun website sometime ago. Luke put together the different maps available of the park, hotels, entertainment zone, etc. Keep these different places in mind as you view the photos.

To help you to locate where SDL will be from Shanghaî, I suggest that we first take a look at these pictures showing the park and Shanghaî on the left. The China Sea, in fact, is on the right of SDL, not so far away.

Now we are directly over Shanghaî Disneyland!

Let’s get closer! As you will see almost no buildings are built yet on the site, and these recent satellite pictures also give an idea of the work that remains to be done for SDL Imagineers and workers over the next two and a half years…

Here’s an aerial view of the land for SDL Magic Kingdom. The pale shot on the right is the most recent one, the one on the left shows the land before work on the ground began.

At the bottom left of the lake sits the land for the future Shanghaî Disneyland five star hotel, which will face SDL Magic Kingdom.

Another Google Earth view, this time looking towards SDL lake, and with the land for the park in the foreground.

These two pictures offer a closer view of the lake, the second one from the opposite angle.

The resort land view from another angle, with the SDL lake on the top right the land for the SDL Magic Kingdom.

And now, here is a “Soarin'” video that I created “flying” over the Google Earth views. Although it took me quite a while, I had fun doing it and I’m sure you will recognize the music. Also note that the fly-over is a slightly jerky – this is due to the fact that apparently Google Earth and Quicktime don’t play well together when one is recording the other. I hope that you will enjoy this short video anyway!